President Uhuru Kenyatta yesterday announced a raft of measures meant to shield Kenyans from the economic impact of the Corona Virus disease.
In the reforms that are meant to cut through a wide range of sectors, President Kenyatta reduced VAT, income tax, turnover tax, and Pay as You Earn, with the biggest cut going to benefit the jobless person.
“I have today asked the Kenya Revenue Authority to scrap all the PAYE charged on jobless people from a maximum of 30% to 0%. This measure will see them not charged any PAYE, thus directly putting money into their pockets for these difficult times.”
The announcement by the president was praised by many young people who form the majority of the population but 90% of them are jobless. “We are glad that the government is taking care of us,” said one graduate who has been tarmacking for 6 years. “The money we will save from this will go a long way towards helping us survive these dark moments.”
Others felt that although the government was focusing too much on the jobless people and ignoring the employed persons who are a critical to the nation. “These jobless people are being exempted from PAYE yet they are having fun wherever they are. They do not know the pain of waking up early and going to work every day,” lamented one intern at a local firm.
COTU secretary General Francis Atwoli also weighed in on the matter. “These jobless people should thank God that they do not know the pain of working, the risk of being fired and the pain of being paid peanuts. The government should not be spending all its effort on them, while the Kenyan worker is suffering day and night. They should thank God for their unemployment and give the employed people some peace.”
The government also hinted that it is planning to abolish VAT on all zero rated goods.
